Missing calls and losing business!

[sandra]

I keep calling people back that leave me voicemails from the previous night and they tell me they found someone else already. I am losing money by not being able to grab these calls but how are my competitors able to answer their phones when I am sleeping? I can't afford to hire someone to be in my office every night and on the weekends! What am I missing?!? :mad:

[vangogh]

Your competitors might stay awake longer. They might live in a different part of the world. It's also possible the people who left you messages aren't being honest. Not everyone who leaves a voicemail really intends on becoming a client. They might be calling just for some information. It's also possible they found someone online instead of through a phone call.

There really are lots of possible reasons why this might happen and it's hard to say definitively why. If it continues you can ask these people some questions and try to figure out what's happening.

The more important thing is to make sure you land some clients. You don't need everyone who contacts you to become a client, but naturally you do want some of them to become clients. What kind of business do you have? How are you marketing it? Since people are calling, where are they finding your phone number? If you can provide us with more details I'm sure we can come up with some suggestions to help.

[sandra]

I advertise my number on my website and in the phonebook. I have an HVAC company and people sometimes need my guys to come in right away. When I call them back they usually tell me that they called someone else after they called me and someone answered so they went with them... I am in CA so I can't imagine someone staying up later than me unless they are in Hawaii. My friend said to he uses live answering for his roofing company but I've never hear about this.

[nealrm]

I don't think that you can be losing that much business from calls between 10:00 pm and 7:00 am. Most people will be asleep during that time and won't know that the heater is out until the next morning. Of the few that do notice, few would be willing to start making phone calls in the hope that someone would answer.

Here is an easy solution, put a phone in the bedroom. If you find you are being awaken every night with calls, then hire a service.

[Harold Mansfield]

I keep calling people back that leave me voicemails from the previous night and they tell me they found someone else already. I am losing money by not being able to grab these calls but how are my competitors able to answer their phones when I am sleeping? I can't afford to hire someone to be in my office every night and on the weekends! What am I missing?!? :mad:

What time zone are you in and who are you targeting? Also what business are you in that people call overnight?

I target the U.S. and am in the Pacific Time zone. That means that I'm 2-3 hours behind 2/3rds of the country. I make my hours or operation known as well as what time zone I'm in and that cuts down on the amount of calls that I miss. On the rare occasion that someone calls me at 6:00 a.m. ( 9:00 a.m their time), I'm usually up anyway.

Even international calls always seem to come in during my established hours, even though I know they can be 8 hours or so ahead.

If you don't let people know what time zone you are in and when they can expect to get you on the phone, people assume that you are in their time zone what ever it is, or that you are there 24 hours, which is not an unreasonable assumption these days.

If you are in the U.S. the most you can be off is 3 hours. (Unless you are in Alaska or Hawaii).

[Freelancier]

You have a choice here: do you want to handle calls coming in at midnight or do you want to sleep and possibly miss out on some business? If you want to handle late-night calls and are ok getting out of bed, then get a phone next to your bed or get a service as nealrm advises. Train the service on which calls you want to have passed on... sometimes people panic and just want someone to promise them that you'll be there first thing in the morning, which a service can do without waking you up.

[vangogh]

Sandra I'd recommend in the future you not spam forums. You live in California? Funny, your IP address suggests otherwise. It's also interesting how shortly after you posted your question another person with the exact same IP address as yours joined the forum, instantly found this thread, and recommended the company name in your email address that just happens to provide the call answering services you so desperately need.

Thank you for playing though.

[Dan Furman]

Sandra I'd recommend in the future you not spam forums. You live in California? Funny, your IP address suggests otherwise. It's also interesting how shortly after you posted your question another person with the exact same IP address as yours joined the forum, instantly found this thread, and recommended the company name in your email address that just happens to provide the call answering services you so desperately need.

Thank you for playing though.

See, I wish very bad things on people and companies like this.

@#$% you, you dishonest pricks. You ruined the internet.

[vangogh]

I always wonder how people think they'll get away with this stuff. Brand new member with one post asks a question that brand new member who joins a half hour later just happens to know the solution and guess what? It's to a company no one's ever heard of, but is easy to tie to the first new member. In fairness to Sandra or whatever the real name is, this could be an error in judgement more than anything else, which is why the account isn't banned.

Normally I just remove these threads, but since so many people took time to provide a helpful response I thought it better to leave it. Maybe someone else who legitimately has this problem will find it useful.

[Steve B]

Not to mention, you'd have to be a moron to hire an answering service these days. They were popular and necessary in the 1960's. Call forwarding and voice mail have pretty much made these services absolete. I hate when I get an answering service, I'd much rather get voice mail so I can leave a detailed message without worrying if anyone is capturing my message accurately.

[huggytree]

my cell phone is my business line...if im awake i answer the phone....

all my calls are referrals or existing customers......so 100% of them leave a msg....they want ME not just any plumber

if youve been in business for a couple of years this is the same situation you should be in....they are calling because they want YOU!!!

sounds like all these calls just want someone to help them...not YOU....figure out how to change that and your problems will be solved

in my line of business NO ONE answers their phones....all contractors/trades are the same....because i DO answer it makes me different...

[Harold Mansfield]

all my calls are referrals or existing customers......so 100% of them leave a msg....they want ME not just any plumber

if youve been in business for a couple of years this is the same situation you should be in....they are calling because they want YOU!!!

sounds like all these calls just want someone to help them...not YOU....figure out how to change that and your problems will be solved

in my line of business NO ONE answers their phones....all contractors/trades are the same....because i DO answer it makes me different...

But every business can't be run like a local plumbing contractor in Wisconsin. What works for you today, is not going to work for every business, in every industry, everywhere in the world.

Many of us not only market for new customers, but actually want them. At some point a returning customer was a new customer.

IMO any business that provides a service and doesn't have dedicated business hours where you can get someone on the phone, doesn't want my money. I can deal with a "all agents are currently helping other customers" or an "away from my desk" message, but there is no chance that I would waste my time chasing someone down to spend money with them. There are very few instances where anyone is the only game in town.

But then again, I'm easily irritated when it comes to communications. I respond to people quickly and it irritates me when others don't. Usually if I don't get a response within 24 hours, I write that person or whatever they wanted off and move on. Especially if they give the impression that it's urgent. Nothing irritates me more than for someone to want a quick response and then take hours or a day(s) to follow up.

[billbenson]

Not to mention, you'd have to be a moron to hire an answering service these days. They were popular and necessary in the 1960's. Call forwarding and voice mail have pretty much made these services absolete. I hate when I get an answering service, I'd much rather get voice mail so I can leave a detailed message without worrying if anyone is capturing my message accurately.

Well, my dentist uses an answering service. Friday evening I needed to cancel an appointment for 8am Monday morning. Yes, this could have been handled by a voicemail system, however the answering service had a screen pop up that was for cancellations etc. Possibly the doctor get's an email so he doesn't have to show up for that first appointment.

You could be able to solve this problem by being able to cancel online etc., but not all doctor patients are internet savvy. So I'd call answering services a micro niche at this point, but they may still be appropriate for certain businesses.

[Steve B]

My dentist gives his patients his home number. Or, as you said, he could just check his voice mail. I'm sure he already has voice mail, so he could save money by dumping this old fashioned business.

[Dan Furman]

I always wonder how people think they'll get away with this stuff. Brand new member with one post asks a question that brand new member who joins a half hour later just happens to know the solution and guess what? It's to a company no one's ever heard of, but is easy to tie to the first new member. In fairness to Sandra or whatever the real name is, this could be an error in judgement more than anything else, which is why the account isn't banned.


I'd like to see someone come and defend this very misleading practice.

Tell us why you and (your company) consider this good, honest marketing, Sandra?

[Harold Mansfield]

This is as old as forums and certainly not new around here, they just get deleted quickly.

[vangogh]

On forums that aren't moderated well these kind of threads get missed. It seems legitimate on first glance. I've seen the scam enough though that I can usually catch it. Once you know the pattern it's pretty easy to spot.

[Bunnicula]

The answer to your problem may be as simple as getting a virtual PBX service like RingCentral. These services have features like call-forwarding, meaning you would be able to have calls forwarded to your cell or home phone during certain hours, so you won't miss late-night calls. Also, make sure you sleep by your phone and have your ringer volume turned up all the way so you'll actually wake up when customers call. If the virtual PBX route seems like the one for you, you can use comparison sites to find a service that meets your needs, like PBXCompare (http://www.pbxcompare.com/).

[Michael Fied]

Hi,

I had the same situation. The first thing I did was hired a female to record a nice voicemail for my voicemail it seems that helped a ton. I know it sounds little strange but it helps. Another option you have is to get a skype / gmail number and attach it with you smart phone. By doing this you wont mix your business line with your personal and it all will go to the same phone. If you want some more details / questions do not hesitate to contact me via private message..

[samie]

You know the best solution to this? Find a call center to outsource your call to. If you find the right company, you can get really good pricing. I used to work in the call center industry and of course we have our big departments with 200 people for specific companies, but we also had a shared department and they took calls for hundreds of small businesses and also for after hours. You can come to some type of agreement for the amount of money per call etc.

[Russ in Vancouver]

I find that answering my email quote requests quickly will most definitely increase my conversion rate. Answering the phone when there are drills and saw noises going on in the background is good for conversions too.

[billbenson]

I find that answering my email quote requests quickly will most definitely increase my conversion rate.

I agree. One of my strategies for a long time has been to get a quote in the customers hands while I have them on the phone or answer an email RFQ with a quote ASAP definitely increases conversions as well. Gives them less time to go price shopping, particularly if they are busy.